Promises, and the Dark
by Kuroaki
Summary: One-shot. Eiji ponders about the dark, promises, and one Fuji Shuusuke. Slight hint of FujiTezu. I guess you can take it as a love triangle if you have a wild imagination. Or you can take it as friendship angst.


Promises, and the Dark

Kikumaru Eiji had never been afraid of the dark.

Nope, never had been – not even when he was a child. But it didn't mean that he _liked _the dark.

There were a few instances when he didn't mind it.

One was when his okaa-san was by his side telling him bedtime stories.

Another was when he was watching scary movies.

And the other was when Fuji Shuusuke was with him.

Kikumaru Eiji felt that the dark was a gloomy …thing. It wasn't scary at all, but he didn't like the loneliness he felt in the dark. Even Kuma-daigoro didn't seem like a companion in the dark, because in the dark, something was missing. Eiji felt that the dark sucked the life out of everything.

Eiji let his feet dangle over the edge of the small wooden bridge where he was sitting on as he pondered about the dark. He was now too tall to sit right at the edge as he used to with Fuji, he thought randomly, because if he did his feet would plunge right into the fake stream.

The new semester was starting in a few days time, he thought randomly again.

I wonder what Fuji is doing.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Eiji…wake up!"

Eiji opened one eye. Fuji was kneeling over him, shaking him awake.

"Nya Fuji…." Eiji dragged himself to a sitting position. "What is it?"

Fuji had a mysterious glint in his eye. "Ne, Eiji. Want to see something interesting?"

"Interesting?" he asked blankly. "What?"

"Well, hurry up and put this on, then," Fuji said, holding out Eiji's sweater.

Eiji blinked. "What's that for?"

Fuji looked at him and simply smiled. "Come on. We have to hurry to the park now, if you want to see it."

"N-now?" Eiji stared at Fuji, blue eyes wide open. "But…it's nearly two in the morning nya!"

"So?" Fuji smiled at him, non-plussed.

"Your parents don't mind if we sneak out at two in the morning?" Eiji asked incredulously.

"Of course they do," Fuji replied. "But they don't have to know, do they?"

A strange feeling, a strange mix of excitement, thrill, panic and fear, started to wash over Eiji. He quickly pulled the sweater over his head and jumped up. "Let's go nya!"

xxxxxxxxxxx

They sneaked out (Eiji had a feeling that it wasn't the first time Fuji had done this) of Fuji's apartment and briskly left the building, heading in the direction of the park.

"Nya Fuji," Eiji asked, "what is it we're going to see?"

"Secret," Fuji smiled mysteriously.

"Unnyaa…" Eiji mumbled to himself. "Can't you even give me a clue?"

"I don't want to spoil the fun. You'll see soon, Eiji. Don't worry."

The two boys then walked in silence, the feeling of anticipation hanging in the air.

xxxxxxxxxxx

"Here?" Eiji asked Fuji. They were standing on a small wooden bridge constructed over an artificial stream – one out of four built in the park. The bridge was really very small, Eiji thought. He could cross it in about 6 strides, and he was only 13. Almost.

Fuji nodded and sat himself on the edge of the bridge, patting the spot next to him.

Eiji joined his best friend and dangled his legs. "Hoi! My feet are going to reach the surface of the water nya! I've grown a lot over the summer haven't I?"

Fuji nodded and smiled.

"So…." Eiji couldn't contain himself anymore, "where is it? What's the interesting thing."

Fuji simply smiled. Then about five seconds later, he replied, "Look up, Eiji."

Eiji looked up.

And a split second later, the clear sky was clouded by dozens of sakura blossoms floating in the air.

"Heeee…." Eiji said in amazement.

"The first signs of spring," Fuji said simply.

Sure enough, sakura blossoms were gently floating down from the sakura trees in the park.

Five whole minutes passed by with no exchange of words between the two as they enjoyed the first signs of spring. Then Eiji spoke.

"Nya, Fuji…how did you know?"

"Know what?"

"How'd you know the blossoms will start falling tonight and this time?" Eiji asked, never taking his eyes of the blossoms that seemed to fall from the sky.

Next to him, Fuji smiled mysteriously (did he ever do anything else, anyway?). "That's a secret."

"You really are a tensai nya…" Eiji said in awe. Fuji simple chuckled quietly and stood up.

"Eh? Do we have to leave, already?" Eiji asked in disappointment. He looked at his watch. "It's almost three only."

Fuji smiled apologetically. "Okaa-san wakes up at three to prepare food for us all. Sorry. I don't want you to get into trouble."

Eiji pouted. "Mou, but I'll never see it again! Pleeease, Fuji, just one more minute pleeease…"

Fuji laughed softly and sat back down. "You know, spring comes every year. You can see it next year."

Eiji looked at him incredulously. "No I can't. I wouldn't know when it would happen. I can't tell, unlike you."

"Well then, I'll just call you up and we'll sneak off again."

Eiji blinked. "Really?"

"Really. Promise."

_People can't keep promises,_ he suddenly thought_. Onee-san always promises not to finish my toothpaste, but she just did it again yesterday. Okaa-san promised to send me to Fuji's yesterday but she forgot and I had to go myself. It's not their fault, but it's just people. It's difficult to keep promises._

But when he turned to look at his best friend smiling at him, he somehow believed at that very instant, that this would be one promise that could be kept.

After all, Fuji isn't like other people. He's a tensai ne?

xxxxxxxxxx

The following year, the coming of spring had been pushed to the back of his mind. He had not stayed over at Fuji's much during the holidays, because the next year was his last year at junior high. He had too much homework to complete and his parents had not been so willing to grant him permission to stay over unless he could guarantee he could get some work done. Besides, he was trying to make a Herculean effort to try put in some preparation for his high school entrance exams that year.

So he was surprised when he was rudely awoken by the blue-eyed tensai in the middle of the night. Fuji had easily climbed in his bedroom window, which was on the first level. But it only took a few seconds before he remembered the occasion, and he had quickly thrown on something warmer and they had both sneaked out of his bedroom window and made their to the park.

"Nya, Fuji," he had suddenly said as they watched the blossoms fall, "aren't you sad?"

"Sad?" His friend gave him a questioning look.

"Well…." he trailed off. "It's our last year at junior high. If we don't end up at the same high school, we'll never see each other again. We'll start not talking to each other and stuff, and…." he looked at his lap, "we'll never see the sakura blossoms fall, nya."

Fuji chuckled. "What are you talking about? Different high schools won't stop me from fulfilling my promise. I promised, didn't I?"

And when Eiji looked at that smile, he once again believed that Fuji wouldn't disappoint him, because Fuji wasn't like anyone else. Fuji was a tensai.

He hadn't been wrong to do so. The next year, a few days before their first year of high school began, Fuji had called him and simply said "12 midnight" and hung up. Sure enough, when he turned up at the bridge, Fuji was already seated there, smiling warmly at him.

Every year in high school, it had been the same. Fuji either messaged him or called him, giving a slightly different time every year, and his predictions about the first signs of spring had been almost pinpoint accurate.

"The dark's not so bad after all," he said out of the blue one year, and Fuji simply smiled.

Before the first semester of their university began, Fuji had called him once again, and they sat and watched the cherry blossoms fall. But Eiji knew something was wrong.

So, being Eiji, he had poked and prodded his best friend until Fuji finally let on that he had confessed to their junior high school buchou about his…._feelings._

Eiji felt something odd strike him then. But he shook it aside and had gamely encouraged Fuji to "go get Buchou!" (He hadn't really shaken the habit of calling the stoic teen 'Buchou' even though it had been years since he had been the captain of their tennis team.)

Fuji had chuckled softly and said that he would try.

And he had been successful, judging from the happy letters Eiji often got from him, talking about his life with Tezuka.

That year, Eiji hadn't pressed Fuji as to whether he would still be able to keep his promise the following year. So he hadn't really been expecting anything.

But the year following, the call came for Eiji to meet Fuji at 2 in the morning, this time.

So he had thought happily that nothing could come between them and their tradition of watching the coming of spring. Not even Tezuka.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Eiji sighed softly. The third year of his university education would begin in a few days time.

"Haa? Tezuka's in Germany? Again?"

"Yeah. He's having problems with his arm again. Fuji went with him this time."

Eiji's breath caught. He had half-listened to his ex-fuku-buchou's conversation, and finally put down the phone with a heavy heart.

So he won't be here this spring.

xxxxxxxxx

Eiji blinked as something clouded his vision.

Sakura blossoms were floating gently down.

Eiji looked at the sky in amazement. He hadn't thought that the sakura blossoms would fall the night Oishi called to tell him of Fuji and Tezuka's departure.

On a whim, he turned around, half expecting Fuji to materialise out of thin air and smile, saying "I promised, didn't I?"

But it was only the darkness that greeted him.

_Baka. Fuji's in Germany. Even Fuji can't do something like that._

_So he is just a person after all,_ he thought wanly.

That spring, he watched the cherry blossoms fall all by himself.

**Owari**

**A/N: Many things to say this time. Firstly – I'm not so sure about the details of Japan's education system. I'm working under the assumption that they begin school around spring, because you always see those cherry blossoms falling then. Also, I'm assuming that spring is the season when those things fall.**

**I am about 70 percent(thanks, Inui) sure that Eiji calls Tezuka "Buchou". If I'm wrong, sorry. I don't really feel like watching random episodes until I find it out, so I'm just relying on my memory for now.**

**Sorry for any other discrepancies. My mind isn't working too well after school ended.**

**I would also like to thank **Koyuki, Hikari noYami, ariark** and** Aeolus the Soul Hunter**, if they happen to be reading this, for taking the time to read and review my other fic. Your reviews touched me. Thanks.**

**To** ariark**: I wish I could go on with the FujiEijiOishi thing, but I don't have a sensible plot in my head, so I'm not continuing. I am trying, however, to come up with more sensible love triangles so that I can write more unrequited angst. Can't seem to come up with any, so I anticipate that that fic may remain a one-shot.**

**Thanks again.**


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